Clothes of all Kinds
by Sparks and Sharps
Summary: The story of a relationship as told through articles of clothing. Kotetsu/Tomoe and some Kotetsu/Barnaby. Some swearing and mentions of sex.


**Glasses**

Tomoe started wearing contacts when she joined the volleyball team. It was mostly for practical reasons – she needed the pair for the sport, and didn't see the benefit in constantly switching to and from specs – but the realization that Kotetsu couldn't call her "Ms. Glasses" anymore was a fine bonus. When the boy learned of the switch, he gave a look that seemed genuinely crestfallen. Tomoe rolled her eyes.

"Kotetsu – being unable to call me by stupid names isn't something to cry over."

"It's not that. I... I just thought they were kinda cute. The glasses, I mean."

The conversation ended there immediately – Tomoe had to get out of sight before Kotetsu could see her blush.

* * *

><p><strong>Hair Clips<strong>

Kotetsu had bought a hair clip for Tomoe some time ago, but he never ended up giving it to her. The idea was that he was going to give it to her when he asked her out for a first date, but he backed out at the last minute. As one of the very few out and open NEXT in school, there weren't many kids Kotetsu could call friends, and one of those very few was Tomoe. A dumb crush wasn't something wasn't worth losing that for. The hair clip was stuffed into the top compartment of his backpack, and Kotetsu had quickly forgotten about it.

About a month later, the clip spilled out of the half-zipped pack when he tripped in the hallway. Tomoe was walking beside him and snatched it before anyone can trample on it. She'd barely even asked what it was before Kotetsu nervously confessed his stupid idea to ask her out. He was babbling about how dumb he was for thinking she'd like him like that before Tomoe interrupted.

"You really suck at reading signals, you know that?"

Kotetsu stared dumbly at her. Tomoe gave an annoyed sigh and kissed him.

* * *

><p><strong>Jackets<strong>

Kotetsu was terrible at keeping secrets, and Tomoe knew of the jacket he was getting her about a month before he actually did.

It was, quite frankly, very silly looking – neon pink with the most gaudy of floral prints on the inside – but knowing how many hours of overtime he clocked in at his after-school job to afford it in time for her birthday, she couldn't help but love it the moment she took it out of the box.

* * *

><p><strong>Shoes<strong>

Kotetsu heard from a lot of people that girls were supposed to really like shoes, and guys weren't supposed to care about them much at all. Tomoe had about three pairs, which included rain boots. Kotetsu had over a dozen, and that was if he didn't count boots or sandals.

A lot of people didn't know their head from their ass, apparently.

* * *

><p><strong>Pants<strong>

Tomoe loved Kotetsu's legs – slim, strong, and _impossibly_ long. They were already nice enough when he was just a weedy teenager, and now that he'd finally grown into his frame they were gorgeous.

Unfortunately, such beauty came at a price, and that price was $160 for pants. A _pair_ of pants.

"Cute, Kotetsu. Now give me the _real_ receipts."

"Those _are_ real. 37" inseams are only sold in crazy-expensive specialty places, and then I have to get them let in. This pair was one of the cheaper ones, actually. There was a sale."

"And the usual cost?"

"About $200, I think."

Tomoe groaned as she crumpled the two receipts and tossed them into the waste bin across the room (something Kotetsu could never manage to accomplish). She knew now why Anju hated buying clothes for him, at least.

* * *

><p><strong>Skirts<strong>

Once she learned what Kotetsu was really doing after school, she could not stop herself from trying to follow him. Sure, it meant she'd have to ditch choir (something Kotetsu would never let her live down, for sure), but it was a necessary sacrifice to make in order to see a budding Hero in action.

The gates stayed locked while school was in session, but the chain-link fence appeared to be easily scalable. She watched Kotetsu climb over it and jump onto a soft bed of grass before he disappeared behind a concrete wall. When she figured he was far enough away to not notice her, Tomoe dashed to the fence and tried her own luck with it.

She learned two things: that Kotetsu wasn't far enough to miss her, and that skirts snagged very easily on chain-link.

With knees badly scraped, panties exposed, and one thoroughly red Kotetsu trying not to look as he helped her up, Tomoe decided that she'd never wear a skirt again.

* * *

><p><strong>Shirts<strong>

The shirt Kotetsu had worn when he rescued Tomoe had been ruined in the process. Burnt, torn, and so thoroughly covered in ash, there wasn't a tailor in the world that could salvage it. That really sucked, because M. C. Escher screenprint shirts weren't easy to find in Oriental Town, and it was one of his favorites.

When he went to his trig class a week later, he found something folded on top of his desk. It was t-shirt, and though it wasn't the same design as the one he had before, it was had an M. C. Escher print on the front. Smiling, Kotetsu lifted the shirt off his desk, only to notice a small sheet of paper falling to his feet – a note. He picked it up and read:

_Thank you – TA_

* * *

><p><strong>Underwear<strong>

Instead of "Mama" or "Dada", Kaede's first word was "underpants" – or, from her unpracticed mouth, "oondapans". Neither Tomoe or Kotetsu had any idea of what to think of that.

* * *

><p><strong>Sweaters<strong>

Tomoe always looked so cold when Kotetsu visited her at the hospital, so he decided he should get her a sweater. He actually tried to _make_ one first, but he had no training and little talent for knitting, and the result was less a sweater and more a woolen mesh. Eventually he just gave up and bought one.

She discovered the botched attempt when a curious Kaede took Kotetsu's bag during a visit and dumped its contents all over the floor. Against all odds, Tomoe wanted to keep it. It was unwearable as a sweater, but it wasn't a terrible shawl.

… Probably. Tomoe said it looked nice, at least.

* * *

><p><strong>Vests<strong>

Tomoe took one look at the price tag on the vest that snared Kotetsu's attention and concluded they would have nothing to do with it. It took quite a bit of begging and pestering for her to even let Kotetsu walk into the dressing room with it. Then she actually saw him in it, and they couldn't buy it fast enough.

They later found cheaper ones at another store – different color, same cut and fabric – but neither of them ever regretted the purchase.

* * *

><p><strong>Lingerie<strong>

Tomoe once bought a Teddy, hoping to treat Kotetsu for their anniversary, but the night she wore it had to be one of the most uncomfortable nights she'd ever endured.

When Kotetsu admitted nervously that he preferred her in the buff, she tried to look mad, but anyone could have seen she was relieved.

* * *

><p><strong>Suits<strong>

It had taken days of shopping around and an expensive trip to the tailor's, but when Tomoe saw her husband-to-be suited up like that at the end of the isle, she knew it was worth it.

Naturally, he had to spill red wine all over himself at the wedding party.

* * *

><p><strong>Bras<strong>

Guys sometimes had trouble unhooking bras. Tomoe understood that. She had trouble with them too sometimes. What she couldn't understand was how Kotetsu could manage to _destroy_ one of hers when he tried to undo it.

Looking at the misshapen hooks and torn fabric, she could only hope the boy's usually endearing clumsiness didn't apply to the rest of sex.

* * *

><p><strong>Spandex<strong>

An unbiased observer would probably not have many good things to say about Wild Tiger's costume: It was pointlessly busy. The cape was too short. The ears weren't long enough and the mask as a whole made for a poor silhouette. It was an amateurish design, clearly made by someone with little or know knowledge of fashion.

As the co-designer of the costume and the wife to be of the hero it was made for, Tomoe gave not even the slightest of shits about these things. All she knew was that Kotetsu looked good in tights and needed to wear them more often.

* * *

><p><strong>Dresses<strong>

Tomoe may have never worn skirts since high school, but she sometimes wore dresses – for special occasions, for fancy dinners, and sometimes just as an occasional treat for her husband. Her wedding gown was still in the closet, far in the back. Sometimes she was tempted to take it out and try it on again, though there would be no guarantee that it'd fit anymore.

It pained her to know that the only gown Kotetsu would probably see her in from now on was one from the hospital.

* * *

><p><strong>Swimsuits<strong>

"No."

"Oh, c'mon. It'll be fun. Besides, you get a bonus if you do this, right? It means we can breathe a little easier when – yes, Kotetsu, _when – _you break someone's car again."

"_No._"

"Why not?"

"'Cause it's embarrassing, and I don't want to. "

"Because you don't _want_ to? And here I thought you were dedicated to doing a Hero's duty."

"It's not a Hero's duty to wear a goddamned_ speedo_ on the cover of _Monthly Heroes_' swimsuit edition!"

* * *

><p><strong>Rings<strong>

Kotetsu was in what could be considered the superhero minor league when they got married, so they couldn't afford very elaborate rings. Tomoe insisted that they were perfect, but if Kotetsu _really _was that worried about them, they could get new ones when he made his debut in Sternbild.

The debut came and went, but the wedding rings were never replaced, and they were both perfectly fine with that.

Tomoe's ring was buried along with her ashes. Kotetsu's never budged even the slightest from its position on his finger, but in fifteen years it would be joined by a second band worn on his other hand.

* * *

><p><strong>Scarves<strong>

A visit to the doctor for what she thought was a persistent bug. Blood work. Ultrasound. ECRP.

Now she was waiting for the call that would tell her whether or not that "bug" was cancer.

As she waited, Tomoe thought about scarves. Colorful headscarves that she may very well be wearing in the near future out of necessity. That's what you did when you underwent chemo, right? Lose your hair and wear pretty patterned scarves instead. Scarves wouldn't be so bad.

Yes, think about the scarves, not about the ECRP results.

* * *

><p><strong>Hats<strong>

There was one hat Kotetsu had that was slightly different from the others, with a green stripe down it instead of the usual navy. It was a birthday gift – the last one Tomoe gave him before everything went wrong.

He never wore it anymore. It wasn't that it was too painful – it was that he didn't want to lose it. The hat was one of what felt like a dwindling set of lines he still had connecting him to Tomoe, and he couldn't risk it getting damaged. Destroying it would be like destroying a bit of her, and he'd already lost too much of her to bear.

* * *

><p><strong>Bracelets<strong>

Kotetsu had bought the beaded cancer awareness bracelet just after he learned of the diagnosis – one of many attempts to feel useful somehow and not utterly powerless in the face of Tomoe's illness like he truly was. After she had passed on, it doubled as a makeshift string prayer beads, only he spoke to her instead of a deity. On quiet nights, he'd turn his thumb over the beads and talk. It was probably weird, talking to dead people on a regular basis, but Barnaby did the same thing at his parents' grave, so at least they were weird together.

When he first started doing it, his prayers were more like desperate pleas than anything. (_I can't do this without you. Please don't leave me alone like this.) _They became less despairing after a year of two, but still they were hardly cheerful. (_I'm not sure how long I can go like this, but I'll keep at it. You'd never let me hear the end of it if I didn't. You don't know what it's like without you here.)_

When Barnaby entered his life, the prayers took a new direction.

… _They've got me teamed up with this new Hero now. It's not too bad, really. He can be a huge pain in the ass sometimes, but I have to admit he isn't too bad. Actually, he kinda reminds me of you in some ways..._

_Tomoe, I'm not exactly sure why, but I've been feeling a little bit better lately..._

…_Things with Kaede are going really good now, Tomoe. It's like I can finally be there for her and still keep my promise to you at the same time._

_I'm kind of worried about what you'd think about this, but I think I might be falling in love again..._

Tonight he laid in bed bonelessly, ungodly exhausted but not unhappy. Next to him slept Barnaby, who had passed out only moments after they had reached the apartment they now shared. Kotetsu moved a sore arm to remove the glasses the other man had forgotten to take off and tried to flick them onto the nightstand. They missed, but Kotetsu had already spent all his energy and then some out on the field that day, so he just let them be. Still, there was one thing he still had the strength to do that night.

He rubbed his thumb over the beaded bracelet still on his wrist and whispered.

_Tomoe, can you hear me? God, I still miss you so damn much... but I'm doing okay now, I think_. _Kaede's been such an angel putting up with me, and Bunny... Shit, I'm not sure where I'd be now if it wasn't for him. He keeps me in line, the way you did. Really, it's all far more than I deserve._

_I'm still trying to figure out how you'd feel about all of this. At first it felt like I was betraying you – _cheating_ on you even, but now I think I'm starting to get it. I realized you'd probably kick my ass if I forced myself away from something like this because I thought I was replacing you. Bunny, he's... he's someone I need... but so are you, and I don't think that'll change._

_I love you. Both of you._

_Goodnight, Tomoe._

Kotetsu closed his eyes, and he dreamed.


End file.
